The present invention relates to a film peeling technique, and more particularly to a technique which can be employed effectively to peel off a film sticking to a base.
In printed wiring boards for use in electronic equipment such as computers, a wiring having a prescribed pattern is formed of copper on one or both sides of an insulating base.
A printed wiring board of that sort can be manufactured through the following steps. First, a laminate consisting of a photosensitive resin (photoresist) layer and a translucent resin film (cover film) for protecting the photosensitive resin layer is formed by thermocompression bonding on a conductive layer of an insulating base. Thereafter, a wiring pattern film is laid over the laminate thus formed and the photosensitive resin layer is exposed to light through the wiring pattern film and the translucent resin film for a predetermined length of time. The translucent resin film is then peeled off and the photosensitive resin layer thus exposed is developed to form an etching mask pattern. The unnecessary parts of the conductive layer are removed by etching so as to obtain a printed wiring board having a desired wiring pattern.
In the aforesaid process of making a printed wiring board, there is a step required for peeling off the translucent resin film when the photosensitive resin layer thus exposed is developed. At that stage, manual labor is relied upon to peel off the translucent resin film because the film is extremely thin, where the problem is that not only deft fingers but also a great deal of skill are essential to preventing the photosensitive resin layer from being damaged or destroyed because of the deflection of the peel stress and the like.
The additional disadvantage is that workhours needed for manufacturing such a printed wiring board are on the increase because it is time-consuming to peel off the translucent resin film.
Thereupon, an automatic film peeler has been developed for automatically mechanically peeling off such a translucent resin film.
The automatic film peeler is designed to peel off the translucent resin film by uptearing part of the translucent resin film of the laminate sticking to the base by means of a needle, brush, knurl roll or the like and sending a jet of fluid to the part thus lifted. A film uptearing device for uptearing part of the laminate and a fluid injection device for sending a jet of fluid to the part thus lifted are installed close to the base carrying pathway of the automatic film peeler.
However, since the automatic film peeler is fitted with the film uptearing device and the fluid injection device close to the base carrying pathway, no drive rollers for carrying the base can be installed in that area. For this reason, the front end of the base hangs down by its own weight in that area when the thin base is carried, causing the base to deviate from the base carrying pathway or jam therein. As a result, the base and the automatic film peeler may be broken and damaged.